RussiaUrgesIsraelis,PalestinianstoShowRestraint

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday called on Israelis and Palestinians to show restraint, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday called on Israelis and Palestinians to show restraint, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

In a phone conversation with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, Lavrov “called on the sides involved [in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict] to show restraint and not follow the path of escalating violence that often results in the death of innocent civilians.”

Israel launched its attack on the Palestinian enclave of 1.7 million on Wednesday, with an airstrike that killed the head of the military wing of the Hamas militant group, Ahmed al-Jabari. The airstrike came after a reported surge in rocket attacks on Israeli border towns from Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Over 20 Palestinians and three Israelis have been reported killed since the start of the operation.